RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The state of Virginia has put more assisted living facilities on watch.
Twenty assisted living facilities are now operating with only provisional licenses, meaning they failed their license renewal inspections and now have six months to clean up their acts.
This is the largest number of provisionally licensed facilities since 8News began tracking the issue in April, with five more facilities being added to the list over the last few months.
Two are in Central Virginia — Jan’s Residential Home in Blackstone and Morningside of Bellgrade in Midlothian.
Morningside had a license renewal inspection in May that found violations of 15 different Department of Social Services standards.
One involved a failed mixing valve that left tap water at scalding temperatures. Inspectors found water at temperatures ranging from 127.5 to 148.2 degrees in seven rooms. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission that’s hot enough to quickly leave significant burns. “Most adults will suffer third-degree burns if exposed to 150-degree water for two seconds,” according to the CPSC. “Burns will also occur with a six-second exposure to 140-degree water.” Four of the seven rooms inspected had water temperatures at or above 140 degrees.
Inspectors note the issue was fixed that day.
Another violation at Morningside involved an alleged fall on May 14 by a resident that wasn’t reported to the regional licensing office. Inspectors learned of it during the inspection upon seeing a resident with bruising “to the entirety of the resident’s face”. The resident’s record contained a hospice visit note report from four days earlier stating the resident had been taken to the hospital for “multiple skin tears to arms and legs”. The emergency doctor diagnosed a “nose fracture” and “skin avulsion”, a more significant injury than a cut.
There were other problems surrounding fall care. That same resident also had seven other falls over the previous five months, but inspectors did not find the required fall risk ratings in the file for any of the seven fall dates.
The same was missing for a different resident who staff also say fell on May 14.
There were violations for 20 standards at Jan’s Residential Home in Blackstone. Violations there ranged from poor record-keeping concerning residents and staff to failure to ensure compliance with state fire prevention code and lack of emergency preparedness.
The poor record-keeping extended to a failure to follow-up on or act accordingly to the results of required disease testing and background checks. In one case, an employee falsely stated they had no criminal convictions, while a criminal history request response dated three months later showed they did.
Jan’s administrator indicated some staff responsible for some of the violations were no longer employed at the facility. They also told the state the business office manager was sent for training on company and state policy. Jan’s has until its provisional license expires on December 31 to show these measures have led to marked improvement in a new license renewal inspection.
Morningside also has until December 31.
The full list of facilities that have become provisionally licensed since our last check:
- Gray Ridge Village LLC – Marion
- Jan’s Residential Home – Blackstone
- Morningside of Bellgrade – Midlothian
- Brookdale Virginia Beach
- Bickford of Virginia Beach
- Harmony at Spring Hill – Fairfax
- Hairston Home for Adults – Martinsville
- North Roanoke Assisted Living
- Noble Senior Living at Bedford
- Hilltop – Winchester
Facilities we already reported were provisionally licensed and remain so:
- Commonwealth Senior Living at Christiansburg (provisional license expires Nov. 20)
- Colonial Manor – Williamsburg (expired Aug. 28)
- St. Charles Lwanga House G – Williamsburg (expires Dec. 19)
- Nehemiah Assisted Living Facility – Hampton (expired Sep. 19)
- Greenbrier Assisted Living – Vienna (expired Oct. 25)
- The Mayflower – Lexington (expires Nov. 23)
- Carriage Hill Retirement – Bedford (expired June 30)
- Banister Residential Care Facility, Inc. – Halifax (expired March 9)
- The Harmony Collection at Roanoke Memory Care (expires Jan. 17, 2023)
One of the facilities formerly on this list, Fillmore Place, was recently shut down for dozens of repeated violations.
The more than four-month lag from the time its provisional license expired on June 11 to when it officially had to have its doors closed shows why some of the facilities listed above may still be open well after their licenses expired.
The investigation for Fillmore and the resultant decision wasn’t complete until several weeks after the provisional license expiration. Then came multiple chances to appeal the decisions that ultimately led to its doors closing.
Two people are now facing charges in connection with conditions at that facility.
